A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF AIDS CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN MOTHERS AND ADOLESCENTS.

The article presents information on a study related to the stability of mother-adolescent AIDS conversations. According to the authors, parent-adolescent communication is a source for influencing adolescent AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior, because parents are an accessible and often willing source of information for their children. In this study, the authors tests seven hypothesis. The study presents some preliminary data about what mothers and adolescents bring up when they discuss AIDS. As predicted, mothers' reports of the frequency of conversations about AIDS, sexuality and birth control related to adolescents' reports. However, contrary to hypotheses and previous findings, mothers reported more frequent conversations than adolescents. One possible explanation for this difference may be a difference in measurement. It was also concluded that unlike mothers' reports, adolescents' reports of frequency of conversations did not relate to discrepancy in AIDS knowledge. It is possible that mothers' reports of frequency of conversations about these difficult issues are more accurate and therefore relate to outcome variables.